Agenda item

To approve the updated Procurement Strategy. 

That the updated Corporate Procurement Policy be APPROVED.  

73.1          The report of the Asset Manager, circulated at Pages No. 124-138, set out an updated Corporate Procurement Policy which the Executive Committee was asked to approve.

73.2          The Asset Manager explained that the policy was last updated in October 2016 and was now due for review. There were three major changes that had occurred since the last review: the United Kingdom had exited from the European Union; the Council had introduced e-tendering; and the Council had committed to declaring a climate emergency. It was understood that there may be substantial changes to procurement in 2023 which may result in the need for a larger review and this would be carefully monitored. The draft Corporate Procurement Strategy contained actions to ensure that procurement within the organisation was taken forward over the period of the Strategy and, since 2016, a number of actions had been delivered, along with improvements to the service which included: the introduction of e-tendering and an e-contract software system; the procurement process had been streamlined to ensure quick and efficient tendering processes for goods and services; procurement training had been completed by all key Officers; the toolkit had been updated; and the Council was compliant with the requirements to publish all contracts on the government website ‘find a contract’.

73.3          The e-tendering system used a portal which was easy to use for businesses. The Council did a lot of work with small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) businesses which had indicated they found the system useful and easy to use; larger businesses had also advised they found it easier to re-tender as they could update previously submitted information rather than submitting entirely new information each time. The process for Officers was also easier as the updated toolkit made it much simpler. The ‘find a contract’ system was a government platform which communicated automatically with the Council’s system as well as the ‘find a tender’ system – this ensured the Council met transparency requirements. The climate emergency requirements the Council had put into place aimed not to stifle the amount of tenders received by being too onerous but there were requirements for supply chains etc. to be low carbon/carbon zero and it was expected, where possible, for contactors to supply data for carbon usage/waste management. This information helped the Council understand its carbon usage and what it needed to do moving forward. This area would be kept under review and it was anticipated it would become more stringent over the next five year period. Another large element was collaboration, the Council bought energy in partnership with Gloucester City Council on the wholesale market through a broker – this made significant savings as it could purchase energy in advance before prices increased. Tewkesbury Borough Council did not have a large enough energy use portfolio to do this on its own so working in partnership was the best way to achieve this outcome. In terms of including Parish Councils in the partnership, the Asset Manager undertook to look into this, he explained that there were examples of other areas where the Borough Council worked with Parishes but each contract was taken in isolation to ensure the benefits of the arrangements were clear for both parties. At the moment it was not possible to get the rates that the Council had taken advantage of so it was too late now for Parishes to gain those savings.

73.4          Upon being proposed and seconded, it was